Andy Dawson has been ramming home to his Hull City players the importance of showing professionalism during a longer-than-expected period without a coach, but he has had to show more than most.

Dawson is currently minding the shop for Hull, something Narcis Pelach recently did for Huddersfield, as Richard Wood and Lee Peltier did for Rotherham United. Leo Perkovich is keeping the seat warm at Middlesbrough.

When Dawson spoke to the media on Wednesday night, it looked highly likely he had overseen his last game as caretaker coach, and that Pedro Martins would be in charge of Sunday's Championship game at Huddersfield Town.

Dawson might have a job assisting him but with talk of the Portuguese bringing four coaches over, perhaps not.

VICTORY: Andy Dawson thought he had signed off as Hull City's caretaker coach with a win on Wednesday, but he will be back in the dugout at the weekend

But when he woke up the next morning, with his players on a day off, Dawson had to start work preparing Friday's training session just in case things did not go to plan and so it proved, with talks between Martins and Acun Ilicali called off by the end of the day.

"I took the dog for a walk, I tried to get a bit of a breather, left my phone in the car, I got my Starbucks and we went for a nice walk," said Dawson. "He doesn't answer back to me, the dog, so it was great.

"Then I came home and you have to prep. I had to prep Friday's training session, the numbers (of players available), what we were going to do with the starters, the non-starters, watch the game back and then you're prepping on Huddersfield and their strengths.

"As players you have to be professional and as staff too. Football is one of them games that anything can happen, as we saw two Fridays ago.

"We came in on the Friday morning, spoke as staff and we were ready to go. If anything changed, we were ready to change, if not, we were ready to be professional for the players.

"I do have to give credit to the rest of the staff for that because they've been really professional in the manner they've put themselves across."

Most clubs have dedicated figures like Dawson, but that should not make the Tigers any less grateful that they do, and Ilicali has publicly made it clear he is.

Dawson has brought a clarity to the team which appeared to be lacking towards the end of Shota Arveladze's tenure by keeping his message simple and repetitive.

Talk of work ethic has come second only to "it's not about me" around his two matches in charge.

"Players need clarity in roles and responsibilities and if you go off on a tangent and say too many different things, that can be difficult for them," he said. "I've experienced that as a player.

"Then each day, each week, you try to implement different things.

"But if you've got hard work and a real ethic to be organised, that's a really good basis to win a game.

"Then you touch on certain patterns of play you want, certain runs, certain individuals and if one makes that run, what's expected of the next one.

"You can only do it in stages."

Hull City's Andy Dawson on caretaker life: Walking the dog, then preparing for a game he did not expect to be in charge of